How Many Are Uninsured?

By Author: Norris Rios
Total Articles: 572
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A new survey has just been published by Gallup. While admitting this is not the most reliable source of national statistical information, it does provide an interesting picture of what people say is happening on the ground. Often, the federal and state agencies who collect statistics have political agendas and skew the results to produce the pictures they want the world to see. So just how many people are uninsured? This question is not being asked to make a political point about the mandate. Sooner or later that issue will get to the Supreme Court when a result will be announced along largely party lines - sadly, the politicization and polarization of our highest court is now complete with the chances of an apolitical decision effectively zero. So rather than second-guess what will happen when the dust has settled, let's focus on the "now" and get some understanding of the scale of the problem.

As you may have noticed, the Republican party is currently deciding who should run for President. The two candidates currently disputing the lead are Mitt Romney who's the Governor of Massachusetts, and Rick Perry who's Governor ...
... of Texas. By one of those quirks of fate, these two men also represent a polarized view of health care. Mitt Romney signed a law creating a mandate in Massachusetts, while Rick Perry is as completely anti-scrounger as it's possible to get - those who can't stand on their own feet will be left to die where they lie.

The Gallup survey of 177,000 adults over the first six months of this year shows an average of 16.8% of adults have no insurance, i.e. about 52.5 million people are uninsured. If we count "uninsured" as meaning the individual has no private insurance nor access to Medicare, Medicaid or Veterans Affairs cover, Massachusetts has the best record in the US with only 5.3% of its citizens without cover. It's interesting that, in the five years since the mandate came into law, it has still to produce universal cover. Perhaps the mandate will never enable everyone to find cover. This contrasts with Texas which, at 27.2%, has the worst record in the US. This also highlights another interesting phenomenon. The largely Democratic north-east has the lowest numbers of uninsured, whereas the Republican south tends to have the highest rates. This represents something of a shift in the politics of health care.

Back in 2001, Rick Perry was talking up the possibility of Texas funding health care for both US and Mexican border residents. The Texas lawmakers formally investigated the option of bi-national health cover. Although the proposal was later abandoned, Perry was in favor of some form of socialized medicine. This does rather force the moral question. As a leader of people, does a governor not have a duty to promote the well-being of all the people? As a Christian, should we not expect Rick Perry to have more compassion? This is not arguing that all states should promote cheap health insurance for all its adult citizens. But it is suggesting we should be doing more for the 52 million Americans who are currently uninsured. If the Republican party wants to repeal Obamacare, it should be honest in making proposals for how to repair the broken health insurance service.